Tenancy Agreement

G51shopaholic

if the property is furnished then the Landlord is reponsible for all repairs, unless stated in the lease. You can contest this paragraph in the lease and if they refuse to Let the property to you on the grounds that you must agree to all appliance repairs then you are entitled to ask for your refrence fees back.

Not all Letting Agencies are ARLA registered. I worked for a small family firm in Glasgow for over 7 years who weren't ARLA.

In Scotland you must be provided with "A Right to Repair Letter" which states that to the best of the agencies knowledge everything in the property is in good working order.

It is also a good idea to ask if the property is Managed by them ie they deal with all enquiries or if it is a letting only, where they have been asked just to find the Landlord a tenant.

Most tenancy agreements are straight forward ie Move-in date, length of lease, cost of rent. It also state that at the date of move-in the tenant is responsible for gas, electricity, council tax, water etc.

REPAIRS ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LANDLORD UNLESS DAMAGED BY THE TENANT.

N79

To the OP - not being given the opportunity to seek advice on the contract can only mean a dodgy agent. A good LL will not just give you a draft contract but they will explicitly advise that is is a legal document and that you should seek independent advice if there are any issues that you are unsure about.

G51shopaholic wrote: »

REPAIRS ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LANDLORD UNLESS DAMAGED BY THE TENANT.

I note that your experience is Scotland which is obviously different to areas subject to English law but for tenancies subject to English law your statement should be:

REPAIRS ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LANDLORD UNLESS DAMAGED BY THE TENANT or a person for which the tenant has responsibility (eg guests) or unless the tenancy agreement specifically makes the T responsible for a repair (noting that a LL can not contract out of their S11 repairing obligations).

Fire_Fox

muskoka wrote: »

Folks - I've pulled out. If I'm having these issues now, what issues will I have down the road. I'm going to find somewhere else.

1 - agent not Arla registered
2 -15 pge conyract full of nonsense
3 - Already cost me £150 reference fees - though I was paying 6 months up front. Lost money but hey,thats life. Am sure I made right decision

I'd be tempted to drop the landlord a note (c/o rental address) stating that the AST includes illegal and unfair clauses, not written in plain English, you were refused your right to get a legal expert to look over it and that is the sole reason you pulled out.

G_M

This question of liability for repairs has come up recently a few times. It is common belief (myself included till recently) that "REPAIRS ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LANDLORD UNLESS DAMAGED BY THE TENANT".

However as I posted on 5/3/10:

This was my understanding too.... until recently.

read the Landlordzone thread here.. extract follows:

Question:
The consensus opinion has been that if the LL offers a residence with working-order white goods such as washing machine, refrigerator etc.; then the LL is responsible for their repair during the tenancy.

Legal response:
Unless the Tenancy Agreement makes express provision, that cannot be so. Re-read the underlined part of s.11(1) below:

Repairing obligations in short leases.

In a lease to which this section applies (as to which, see sections 13 and 14) there is implied a covenant by the lessor:
(a) to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes),
(b) to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation (including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences, but not other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity), and
(c) to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for space heating and heating water.